Review- The Testaments

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another fine book from Margaret Atwood.

This sequel to The Handmaid's Tale is told through documents, from the perspectives of three women. The first is a citizen of Gilead, the successor state to the USA, which continues to be run on patriarchal lines. The second is a school girl from Canada who comes to find that she is connected to events taking place in Gilead. The third is Aunt Lydia, who is in a position of power in Gilead, with responsibility for teaching Gileadian woman their roles in life. However, Lydia has accumulated other powers as well. The novel gives alternating narratives, with the strucutre ACBC. This largely means that the first two characters describe their actions, then Lydia gives an insight about what is 'really happening'.

The nature of Gilead is set out in more detail than was the case in The Handmaid's Tale. In The Testaments, the setting is made more explicitly American- for example The Republic of Texas is referenced, which was at war with Gilead in the recent past. I wonder whether Atwood is being a little mischievous when describing Canada as a refuge that Americans will risk their lives to escape to.

The characterization is very strong and the writing is compelling. The strength of Atwood's writing is that she shows how people act to give themselves agency, even in situations where agency is apparently denied to them. It is a fast paced and thrilling book, particularly in the latter half, where the three characters' stories coincide.

The book is so compelling that it is only when one has finished reading it that the oddities in the plot become apparent, more strikingly, the motivations of Aunt Lydia. For this reason, the postscript is an important part of the book, which casts doubt over the authenticity of the accounts of the three characters. This gives a meta-fictional explanation for the plot leaps, in a way somewhat convenient for the author, one might say.

However, The Testaments is a worthy sequel by an excellent author.



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